ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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The post below explorers the idea that tunnels could be used to invade foreign countries. There are many problems with the concept — but it can't just be dismissed as impossible!
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Battle Beneath the Earth - Thinking Outside the Plot


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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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~ A Question for the Members: Could the Chinese really build a tunnel all the way to North America?

~ My Theory: The idea of a tunnel under the Pacific Ocean is pretty ambitious, and anyone who's seen this movie will agree that it just didn't have the budget to convince us that those tricky Chinese could have reached the U.S. in such a tunnel, much less create a network that spanned the entire country!

But here we are, 50 years later, and Wikipedia's article on the subject of a transatlantic tunnel includes this remarkable statement under the subheading Modern research.
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Robert H. Goddard, the father of rocketry, was issued two of his 214 patents for the idea. Arthur C. Clarke mentions intercontinental tunnels in his 1956 novel The City and the Stars. Harry Harrison's 1975 novel Tunnel Through the Deeps (also published as A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!) describes a vacuum/maglev system on the ocean floor.

The April 2004 issue of Popular Science suggests that a transatlantic tunnel is more feasible than previously thought, and without major engineering challenges. It compares it favorably with laying transatlantic pipes and cables, but with a cost of 88 to 175 billion dollars. In 2003, the Discovery Channel's show Extreme Engineering aired a program, titled "Transatlantic Tunnel", which discussed the proposed tunnel concept in detail.
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So, this movie might have a modest budget, but it has an ambitious concept. And that's the kind I like! 'Cause, you know, I'm so damn clever and all.

Apparently the building of a tunnel under the ocean might be the easy part. The article below details the building of an underwater transportation system which doesn't involve a tunnel at all, just an enclosed underwater "road or railway" along the ocean floor.

The article includes this excerpt.
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New technologies could enable the building of tunnels that once seemed impossible. For example, some engineers would like to build a Transatlantic Tunnel to connect New York with London. The 3,100-mile tunnel could house a train that could travel 5,000 miles per hour. The trip that now takes 7 hours by plane could someday take less than one hour!
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How Do You Build a Tunnel Underwater





While looking at the above picture and thinking about Harry Harryhausen's vacuum/maglev system, it occurred to me that it makes a lot more sense to pump air into the submerged tunnel at the departure end and suck it out at the arrival end — thus causing the tunnel to maintain normal air pressure while the air moves right along with the train!

Thus the tunnel doesn't have to resist the intense pressure caused by having a vacuum inside. And even though it's filled with air, the train doesn't have push it out of the way. The train and the air move along together.

Bear in mind that if a vacuum-filled tunnel on the bottom of the ocean develops a leak at some point, it will be water rushing in, not more air!

And with my way of doing it, there's no need to seal the vacuum-filled tunnel at both ends! Air blows into it from one end and rushes out the other.

(See, I told you I was clever! )

If this idea has already been suggested by somebody else, I swear I didn't know it. It just came to me while making this post. Scout's honor!

But if you're not impressed by the amazing engineering feats described above (and my enhancements of them), this next article will knock your socks off!

China wants to build a 200km tunnel to America!


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~ Pictured above: the Behring Strait. Russia is to the west, Alaska to the east.

Here's the interesting lead paragraph to the article.

China likes trains. Its latest idea is to drive a railway route from Beijing to America via Russia, running under the Bering Strait to Alaska, Canada and America.

The 8,000 mile route would need two undersea tunnels; one running from Russia to the Big Diomede Island, and one from Little Diomede Island to America — well, Alaska. The three miles between the two islands could be crossed by a shorter third tunnel or a bridge.

Ah, but don't put those socks back on yet! The Chinese in the movie also build a network of tunnels under the United States itself. And according to the article below, that network actually exists . . . and nobody is quite sure who built it!

There's a vast network of underground tunnels beneath the USA, and some of the entrances are under closed Walmart stores!

The article below opens with this statement, and then a bit further down, another statement which will (you guessed it) knock your socks off again!

Please note that the Wal-Mart spokesperson does NOT deny the tunnels are there! He just denies that they're part of a plot by the military to take over Texas.

Wal-Mart: "No Truth To The Rumors" Of Tunnels Being Built To Take Over Texas

Wal-Mart issued a statement Monday to TPM dismissing "rumors" that tunnels were being built by the U.S. military beneath closed stores in an attempt to launch a takeover of Texas.

Theorists have suggested that five Wal-Mart retail locations were shuttered abruptly because of Jade Helm 15 [a United States military training exercise which took place in multiple U.S. states in the summer of 2015].

They have suggested that the closed stores, one of which is located in Texas, will serve as "food distribution centers" and will be used to "house the headquarters of invading troops from China, here to disarm Americans one by one."

So, folks, let's recap what we've learned here.

~ Tunnels under the ocean are considered to be possible in the future.

~ China wants to build one to America.

~ There is already a network of tunnels under parts of the U.S. which seem to be related to secret military activities, possibly related to the Chinese threat!

I guess Battle Beneath the Earth is a prime candidate for a remake!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)